Patients at the greatest risk for secondary infections, particularly infections that are resistant to first-line antibiotics, include people who are already vulnerable due to other conditions and diseases—like COVID-19. Because of that, antimicrobial resistance poses a significant additional threat, especially as healthcare systems become overburdened.

It is estimated that one out of every twenty hospitalized patients will contract an HAI. These infections are a significant cause of illness and mortality, and are the source of serious economic consequences for the US health system each year.

Researchers from MIT and Harvard developed a new approach to antibiotic discovery using a type of artificial AI called deep learning. So far, their model has identified eight antibacterial compounds that differ in structure from known antibiotics.